Cellulaze – a new laser treatment for cellulite?

Just this week, the FDA has given their approval to the marketing of a new laser from Cynosure called Cellulaze.  Like the name suggests, it’s a surgical laser treatment for cellulite.  Here’s how it works:
With the help of local anesthesia, several small incisions are made near the area of cellulite.  A laser fibre is inserted under the skin, and a 1440 nm wavelength side-firing laser is used to treat the area of cellulite.  The laser helps by both melting the excess fat, and releasing the tethering bands that give cellulite its indentations.  And it seems to work, with a high degree of patient approval in preliminary studies.  Before and after pictures (shown above) seem to show a nice improvement – but of course, these are on the corporate website, so one would only expect to see their best results!
Nevertheless, this is the first laser treatment specifically proven to improve cellulite, with at least a one year follow-up study showing positive results and minimal side effects.  Dr. Barry diBernardo, fellow ASAPS member and plastic surgeon, presented his experience with this device at last year’s scientific meeting, and he seemed impressed with the technology.
So, it looks intriuging…time will tell if it’s really as good as the marketing hype suggests, and whether it is better than our current selection of skin tightening devices.  For now, we’re seeing nice improvements in cellulite with our Venus Freeze RF device – no incisions required!